Category Archives: Tokyo International Film Festival

The Boy and the Beast (Photo credit: The Boy and the Beast Film Partners)

The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will open with the British film “Florence Foster Jenkins” and close with one about shogi titled “Satoshi: A Move for Tomorrow.”

Organizers also announced that a one-day special anime event TIFF Ani!! will be offered for anime fans on Halloween on Oct. 31.

The 10-day festival will be held from Oct. 25 to Nov. 3 at the Roppongi Hills complex, EX Theater Roppongi and other venues in the capital.

The TIFF was started in 1985. In recent years, it has shone the spotlight on anime films. Last year, it screened “Garakowa: Restore the World,” “Miss Hokusai,” “Ajin: Demi-Human” and other works, in addition to covering the “Mobile Suit Gundam” robot anime franchise.

Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, who starred in Stephen Frears’ “Florence Foster Jenkins,” will visit Japan for the occasion.

“Satoshi: A Move for Tomorrow” starring Kenichi Matsuyama is about Satoshi Murayama, a shogi Japanese chess master who died at a young age.

In addition to a special evening event at Kabukiza theater, the festival will host the TIFF Ani!! event at the Tokyo International Forum.

Little advance information has been disclosed, but it will focus on anime songs.

This year, the TIFF will also feature Mamoru Hosoda in a special program titled “The World of Mamoru Hosoda.”

Hosoda is a leading anime director whose latest work is “The Boy and the Beast,” which opened in 2015. More details about the program will be unveiled in late September.

The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is just around the corner!

We are pleased to announce the lineup for CROSSCUT ASIA #03: Colorful Indonesia. The third chapter of the CROSSCUT ASIA series, launched by the Japan Foundation Asia Center and TIFF in 2014 to showcase Asian films, now turns its attention to recent cinema from Indonesia.

Known as a nation of “tolerant Islam,” Indonesia is made up of more than 10,000 islands and has regional cultural differences that make it the ultimate land of diversity. TIFF has been presenting outstanding Indonesian films, reflecting the nation’s diverse culture, since the 80’s. In this year’s focus, we will showcase 11 films, from the latest works by veterans to the unique, ambitious work of up-and-coming directors.

In the showcase, we will highlight three films by Teddy Soeriaatmadja, whose provocative and powerful work is internationally acclaimed. Along with Soeriaatmadja’s so-called Trilogy About Intimacy, the lineup also includes such rising female directors as Nia Dinata, a pioneer in LGBT films, and Kamila Andini of the Mirror Never Lies.
During the festival, guests from the films will attend the Q&A sessions and symposium.
The 29th TIFF will take place October 25 – November 3, 2016 at Roppongi Hills, EX Theater Roppongi and other venues in Tokyo.

The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is just around the corner!
TIFF is pleased to announce the full lineup for the Special Screening Section. It presents high-profile films, both Japanese and international films and we are expecting to welcome many glamorous guests to the Opening Carpet and stage appearances!

Special Screening Section Lineup

*Screening schedule will be announced on the 29th TIFF official website (www.tiff-jp.net/en/) in mid-October.

The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is just around the corner!
TIFF is pleased to announce that two Japanese films, Japanese Girls Never Die and Snow Woman have been selected for the 29th TIFF Competition section.

This year, a total of 1,502 titles from 98 countries and regions were submitted to TIFF.
A total of 16 films will be shown in the competition section at the 29th TIFF, to be held October 25 (Tue) – November 3 (Thu). The full lineup of the competition section will be announced at the press conference on September 26 (Mon), 2016.

The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is pleased to announce this year’s special program, “Film Treasures from UCLA Film & Television Archive,” which will screen rare restorations from UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Following the “Film Treasures from the Museum of Modern Art” program in 2014 and “Orson Welles: The Known and the Unknown” program in 2015, TIFF will present yet another Special Program featuring American classics. This year we have partnered with the prestigious University of California, Los Angeles, located right next to Hollywood and known for its many world-renowned film alumni. The UCLA Film & Television Archive will bring to Tokyo the restored My Darling Clementine (1946) by John Ford, The Connection (1961) by Shirley Clarke and other American classics dating from the silent era up to the 1980s.

Tentatively scheduled for October 25 (Tue) through November 6 (Sun)
The venue will be closed on Monday, October 31.
Venue: National Film Center Cinema 1

Hosted by: Tokyo International Film Festival/ National Film Center, the National Museum of Modern Art,Tokyo/ Motion Picture Association/ Japan and International Motion Picture Copyright Association

The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival has announced that this year a new programming track entitled “TIFF Ani!!” will be dedicated to the art of Japanese animation. “TIFF Ani!!” will feature anime screenings, guest talks with voice actors and other industry professionals, and a Halloween cosplay masquerade on October 31, 2016.

Additionally, this year TIFF’s Special Focus on Japanese Animation will highlight the films of Mamoru Hosoda, director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006), Summer Wars (2009), Wolf Children (2012), and The Boy and the Beast (2015).

The Tokyo International Film Festival runs from October 25 – November 03, 2016, at the Ex Theater Roppongi and other venues in Roppongi Hills, Minato Ward, Tokyo, Japan. Tickets to the festival go on sale on October 15, 2016. For more information, please check out the official TIFF 2016 home page (English version) here.

Post by Larry Gleeson

The indie crime drama, “Ken and Kazu,” one of the highlights of the 2016 Eiga Sai, the annual Japanese film festival mounted by Japan Foundation Manila, brings to mind the spate of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug pushers that followed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of war on drugs.

A story about drug dealers—that breed of people our chief executive is most allergic to—the film was screened Saturday night (Aug. 6) at a packed Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), during the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival.

Film creator Hiroshi Shoji and line producer Yumi Honda flew to Manila to grace the event. They were also guests of honor at the Cinemalaya opening on Friday (Aug. 5).This year’s alliance between Eiga Sai and Cinemalaya not only allows a crossover of films between the two festivals but has also introduced Japanese guest filmmakers to a larger audience.

In a one-on-one interview with Inquirer Lifestyle at Hotel Jen on Roxas Boulevard, Shoji said he intended for the film to go against the grain and develop a narrative that did not need bombastic or complicated elements. Such practices, he explained, were a recent trend in Japan whose filmmakers want to deliver shock or surprise.

He echoed the concern of veteran director-screenwriter Masato Harada, this year’s Eiga Sai’s first guest filmmaker, about the dearth of original material that actually gets the green light for production.

A graduate of Tokyo Film Center School of Arts, the 30-year-old Shoji wrote, produced, directed and edited “Ken and Kazu,” based on the short film he made in 2011 of the same title. He has had 10 short films, some of which have attracted the attention of Japanese film fests/award-giving bodies.

At the 2015 Tokyo International Film Festival, the full-length version won the Japanese Cinema Splash division’s Best Picture Award, a prestigious honor that comes with a cash prize of one million yen bestowed on Japanese indie films.

Shoji landed a distributor in Japan afterward, allowing “Ken and Kazu” regular screenings in a Tokyo cinema. He and Honda, who also interprets for him, have been touring the festival circuit to gain exposure for the film outside their country. Critics have praised Shoji’s work for its gritty depiction of gun-less violence and brutality,as well as for strong character development and acting chemistry.

The titular characters initially come off as just a pair of deceitful lowlifes who serve the yakuza. Yet, behind the thuggery and meth-pimping, Ken and Kazu are complex human beings—one hoping to provide for his lover and unborn child, the other seeking better care for a mom who suffers from dementia.

Here’s a tragic tale that finds a way to flesh out the humanity even in the worst possible kind of individuals—a stark contrast to the state of our nation, where “cardboard justice” is meted out even unto those who have yet to be proven guilty.